Zombies
by doodleswriter357
Summary: Various escapades of Sam and Artie during the time that the Glee club dressed up like zombies or how they realized they were slowly falling for each other, despite the gross makeup they kept wearing.


**AN: Yet another Sartie week prompt. This was supposed to be cracky but my brain apparently can't handle that. Takes place during the Superbowl episode in season 2.**

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Having the football team in the choir room and rehearsing with the Glee club was one of the weirdest things they had ever done – and that was saying something. Teaching them how to put on zombie makeup just increased the weird factor. However, the boys were on their best behavior, with Coach Beiste keeping a close eye on them, and most of the Glee clubbers were surprised to find themselves…enjoying it.

Most of them have paired off with a football player to help them apply the grotesque makeup. Sam finds himself sitting alone though, but since he's not entirely sure what he's doing, it's probably for the best. He still feels a little left out at times since the rest of them have had at least a year's experience in the club. They have a bit more knowledge on costumes and makeup, and if he's being honest, it sucks when they have inside jokes that fly right over his head. It's a little different with Lauren; at least she went to the same school as them and knows what they're talking about when they say something about Finn wearing a dress or the time Kurt went butch. So he contents himself to sitting off to the side and making his skin look undead.

He's interrupted by a poke in the back. Turning around, he has to laugh at what he sees. Artie is sitting behind him and looks pretty funny. His face is made up in the disgusting makeup, but it clashes hilariously with the sweater he's wearing.

"Need some help?" Artie offers. "I'm pretty dope at this stuff."

"Yeah sure," Sam agrees, slightly relieved that he's going to get some help. He scoots his chair back so Artie can maneuver his closer. "I still haven't really gotten the hang of this yet."

"No worries," Artie replies, picking up a makeup brush. "You get used to it. And honestly, we've never done zombies before. The most makeup we ever did was when we did a KISS number, and that wasn't too difficult. Just two colors." As he talks, he starts applying the makeup to Sam's face.

"That must have been fun," Sam says, very aware of the ticklish sensation of the brush against his face and how close Artie's face is to his.

"I enjoyed it," Artie said with a shrug. "I was down with doing Lady Gaga but Finn was freaking out about it, so we did KISS instead. And we had cool flame machines so it was worth it."

Sam laughed as he tried to imagine it. He could picture the guys running around with black and white faces and hamming it up as badass rock stars. He was most definitely not picturing Artie in the tight black pants. Not at all. He found himself holding his breath as Artie leaned in close to his face to inspect his work and used his finger to adjust the makeup. Now he was just being ridiculous. There was nothing attractive about Artie with a very realistic gash in his cheek and rotting skin. Absolutely nothing at all.

"There!" Artie proclaimed, leaning back to examine his work. Sam let out the breath he was holding and turned to look in the mirror. Artie had only done part of his cheek, but it looked very real and very gross.

"Thanks," Sam said gratefully. "Now just show me how to do it."

And if that meant getting to practice on Artie himself and touching the other boys cheek, or Artie holding his hand to guide it, then it was all just part of learning how to do the makeup. Nothing else.

* * *

It was surprising and slightly unnerving at how easily the slushie was able to clean the makeup off their faces. After Karofsky had stormed out of the locker room in a rage, the rest of the boys cleaned up in relative silence. The Glee boys had all drifted over to one area of the locker room while the football boys were on the other side. Finn was having a hushed conversation with Puck and Mike – probably trying to figure out what to do. Artie was distracted by trying to stretch up and see himself in the mirror so he didn't miss any of the leftover makeup on his face.

"Want some help?" Sam offered. His face was relatively clean at this point and he had noticed Artie having troubles.

"Yeah, thanks," Artie replied. Sam knelt down and grabbed the towel.

"You should ask Coach if they could install lower mirrors in here," he said.

"I don't want to be a bother," Artie said with a sigh. "Besides, I'm not on the team because I'm passionate about it. I probably won't join next year and it would be a waste of time and money."

Sam frowned but didn't say anything. He didn't know the reason behind Artie joining the team – something about impressing a girlfriend? But it seemed like dating Brittany was a new thing for him, so he really didn't have any idea. However, he didn't pry because Artie wasn't exactly one to just blurt out his feelings in the middle of a crowded locker room.

"There you go," he said a few moments later after the most of the makeup had been removed. "Some of this is going to have to come off in the shower I think."

"Thank you," Artie replied cheerfully. He then reached out and touched Sam's temple (and Sam's heart did not skip a beat, thank you very much). "Missed a spot."

"Oh, thanks," Sam said with a nervous chuckle. Artie just flashed him a bright grin and turned to gather his stuff out of his locker. Sam gave himself a mental shake; he wasn't sure what was going on with his brain lately, but finding zombie makeup romantic should not be happening.

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_Feedback is much appreciated as usual._


End file.
